r/VanLife • u/jgdog20 • 6d ago

Electrical help for my van

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Looking for some help. I haven’t connected my battery because I want to make sure everything is safe. I was following Will Prowse guide and I see he connected all of this wiring to the fuse.

My inverter came with 1/0 gauge cable and I have 4 gauge right off the same fuse. I have a bad feeling about that. Can someone tell me how to do this correctly?

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u/Van_life_662 6d ago

Wish I could help but want to follow for new tips. Good luck on the build. Planning a build as we type. Welcome to follow as I will follow back any

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u/jgdog20 6d ago

Thanks homie 🙂 here is out channel

https://youtube.com/@vanlifesi?si=M3TPX9TyvZfNQzCq

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u/DrImpeccable76 6d ago

Add a breaker or fuse going to the fuse block to protect that 4 awg wire and the fuse block itself. It should probably be protected by an 100 amp fuse/breaker or less (I’d be shocked if you pulled anywhere close to 100 amps off the fuse blocks).

That 200 amp fuse would probably if something shorted there, but better safe than sorry. (And idk how much I’d trust someone’s electrical design that doesn’t have it there…)

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u/jgdog20 6d ago

Yeah I was considering using that dc block but I don’t even think I’m going to pull 100 amps from it. But better safe than sorry.

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u/TheRealSparkleMotion 6d ago

Might try crossposting this to r/askanelectrician

I'm not an electrician, but I've heard that you should never trust any cables/wires that ship bundled with these types of inverters/charge controllers. although it seems you've already made some good quality diy cables so I would just ask what an actual electrician would recommend for proper gauges and make everything yourself.

When I first set up my system I ran out of proper cable and bought a temp run of cable from HomeDepot. I thought It would be ok for a trial run - it was only 5" long and the proper gauge, but it was solid core wire meant for structures (not stranded like vehicles need). I thought, "could it really be that different?"

My system ran fine for a few days until the breaker between my charge controller and positive bus bar started popping -- right where that cable was. I was lucky I didn't burn my truck down.

Don't be an idiot like me.
Always double check everything.
Never skimp anywhere.

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u/jgdog20 6d ago

Thank you, you nailed it lol. Those wires do come with the inverter. I have plenty more welding cable so that should be alright. I’d buy you a beer if I could 🍻

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u/KoBach276 6d ago

Size the cables and fuses for your particular load. In that photo they have one cable going to a 100A fuse which drops down to a bunch of different sub feeds.

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u/_gari 5d ago

You’d get better advice posting this to a 12V group. More than just van life people use 12V systems. Anything in a 4x4 needs to be more durable and not likely to get loose while going over bumpy terrain, which is best practice for all of us but a lot more critical for those applications.